Post by Joanna on Apr 15, 2018 1:15:03 GMT -5
Paranormal Radio Host Arthur Bell Dies Unexpectedly
PAHRUMP, Nev. – Art Bell, 72, a radio host best known for a paranormal-themed nightly show syndicated on hundreds of stations in the 1990s, died at his home in southern Nevada, Friday, April 13. Nye County Sheriff Sharon Wehrly announced Bell’s death in a Facebook video said an autopsy will be conducted to determine cause of death.
Bell hosted the popular radio talk show Coast to Coast AM until 2002, broadcasting from his radio station, KNYE, in Pahrump. The program focused on Bell’s conspiracy theories and fascination with the paranormal and unexplained phenomena such as UFOs and crop circles. He served as his own producer, engineer and host, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
Fans, including celebrities such as William Shatner and singer Josh Groban, took to Twitter to praise Bell. Groban recalled staying up late to listen to the host’s “one of a kind” voice and how “his shows were so weird & spooky but somehow managed to hold off your skepticism.”
Former business partner Alan Corbeth said during Bell’s 2008 induction into the National Radio Hall of Fame that nobody was better than Bell at understanding “how to create theater of the mind ....”
At his peak, Bell was heard on some 500 radio stations nationwide. He retired more than once and had a brief run on SiriusXM satellite radio in 2013.
Bell, born June 17, 1945, in Jacksonville, North Carolina, grew up in a military family and, according to the Coast to Coast AM website, became an FCC-licensed radio technician by the age of 13. He later served in the U.S. Air Force while also starting his own pirate radio station.
Bell married four times. His longest marriage was to Ramona Bell, who, after 15 years of marriage, died unexpectedly on January 5, 2006, at the age of 47 in Laughlin, Nevada. He married his fourth wife, Airyn Ruiz, just three months later on April 11, 2006.
Source: Associated Press, April 14, 2018.